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Turkey covers up bombings to protect tourist industry

TURKISH officials have been accused of covering up a terrorist bombing campaign in an attempt to safeguard the country’s lucrative tourist industry.

An explosion that killed four people and injured 28 last Sunday in a popular restaurant at a waterfall at Manavgat, about 60 miles east of the Mediterranean resort of Antalya, was blamed by Fikret Dayioglu, the local governor, on a faulty gas cylinder.

But he produced no evidence and could not explain why most of the casualties occurred away from the kitchen area.

Vatan, a leading Turkish daily, later reported that security cameras had captured footage of a three-strong terrorist cell placing a bomb in a bin 20 minutes before the blast.

The report was denied by local officials but responsibility for the explosion was admitted by the Kurdistan Liberation Hawks (TAK), a group controlled by the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK).